Con man scams at least two victims out of "considerable sum" of money

The man befriended people in Holywood before convincing them to invest in his business

Detectives in Bangor investigating two reports of fraud are appealing to members of the public who believe they may have been taken in by the same man behind both scams.

They received two reports of fraud on 14 March involving members of the public in Holywood.

It was reported both victims had been befriended by a man who convinced them both to lend him money.

In one report the victim was convinced to give money to the man to help develop a business idea.

He further convinced her to lend him another sum of money. After a lengthy period, the woman had received just a fraction of the money she lent him. She never received the remainder.

In the other report, the victim was persuaded to hand over cash and his car, which the man agreed to buy, paying fixed sums every month. However, after a period the payments for the vehicle stopped and the car was sold on and the victim was left significantly out of pocket.

Police believe there may be others out there who have fallen victim to the man and his scams, and want them to come forward.

Detective Contstable Horner said:

"In particular, I want to appeal to anyone who believes they may have come into contact with this man when he ran a business in the Holywood area between 2015 and 2018. Do you believe you were befriended by this man and asked to invest money in his business, or loan him money which he promised to pay back with a substantial return?

He continued:

"Scammers are creative and will do whatever they can to con people out of money. Police would advise people to always err on the side of caution when it comes to people asking for the loan of money or asking for your personal details.

“If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is and, in the case of these two examples in Holywood, that's exactly what happened."